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MOTIVATED by great ambition to pursue a higher goal, five young mechanical engineering students from Mapua Institute of Technology have shown the entire world how good Filipinos are in terms of creation, competition and technological innovation.
Team “Siklab,” composed of Matthew Mamangun, Ken Erick Naval, Jeremaine Lampitoc, Jerick Apetrior, Justin David Villegas and Jaylord Jauod, surprised all their competitors in the 2011 Bosch Power Tool Asia Cordless Race Finals tournament held on September 21 to 23 in Beijing, China.
After capturing the Bosch Cordless Race 2011 Philippine Leg crown and the Best Kart Design award, Siklab didn’t waste any opportunity when it represented the country in that Asian level competition by winning the third place honor and the Asia’s Best Design Award.
The five promising students, who are inspired by Bosch’s cordless power tools, have taken the challenge to assemble and design a go-kart powered by Bosch’s high-tech cordless lithium ion power tools to prove the world that Filipinos are among the brightest mechanical engineers.
“There are many good Filipino inventors in our country right now but they are not properly supported by the government,” Siklab team leader Mamangun, a graduating student, told The Sunday Times Magazine in an interview on October 14 at the Bosch Office in Fort Legend Building in Bonifacio Global City.
“I guess this is the right opportunity to tell them to support the Filipino inventors.”
In terms of development and promotion of electric-powered car and the green technology in vehicles, Mamangun emphasizes that it is already familiar with most countries particularly in Japan and some European nations.
“There’s nothing new in ‘green technology’ most countries are using it by now,” he said. “Filipinos can do it as well [in terms of inventing an electric powered car], but you are talking of millions here if once the government decides to implement and support this.”
Siklab
Siklab placed third overall behind overall champion Thailand (1’47” 127) and second place host China (1’ 53” 841) with a time of one minute 57 seconds” 841 at the Juyongguan Great Wall Open Space in
Beijing, China.
Despite being a third placer in the race, the Filipinos gained respect from the crowd, according to Mamangun. The Filipinos amazingly outraced Malaysia and highly favored South Korea.
“We could win the overall title during the event if only timing and luck we’re on our side. We got a good kart design,” said Naval, who is the smallest guy in the group who can fit inside the kart. “If given a chance again, we’re going to win the overall title since we know what to do now.”
Before earning a Beijing ticket to represent the Philippines in the Asian race event, Mapúa dominated the Philippine leg at the Boomland Kart Track in May inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay City with a 57.437 time record.
Finishing second and third respectively were University of the Philippines (UP) (1:04.709) and University of San Carlos Cebu (1:06.892).
Mapua also received P100, 000 besides qualifying in the Beijing race.
The other teams that competed in the Philippine leg were University of Mindanao, Colegio de San Juan de Letran Manila, Don Bosco Mandaluyong and Rizal Technological University.
For placing second in the Philippine leg, UP also qualified in the Asian Bosch Cordless race and finished seventh overall with 2’17” 628 time.
For winning the best kart design, Siklab also took home 1000 Euros and new Bosch Power Tools.
Mamangun said the Siklab Kart had “no gear box” unlike any other participating go-karts during the Beijing race since the race track wasn’t that wide and long.
“We have a good acceleration and gear box isn’t advisable to a short race track,” he said when asked by one reporter in China.
‘Thankful’
Mamangun, 21, and his members are so thankful to their classmates, relatives, friends for the all-out support. They appreciate the Bosch Philippines’ support too in their campaign during the race by providing all the tools and gadgets they needed.
“Our parents and some classmates even went there in China to cheer for us,” he said. “It’s really motivating when they cheered for you. They inspired us and we just wanted them to be happy.”
Jerick Apetrior, 19, the youngest among the boys, who was in charge for safety and finance, said their team would win the overall title if given another chance to compete in the same tournament for the next two years or even next year.
But that is impossible to happen since all teammates are all graduating students this year and the next Asian Bosch Cordless Race may happen in 2013.
“Thailand did it absolutely right. They are very good in automobile works and good technology,” said Apetrior. “At the same time, they performed well during the race. But if given another chance, we’ll assure anybody that we will bring home the overall title.”
Chief mechanic Jeremaine Lampitoc, however, keeps telling the technology of Thailand and China isn’t that far advance compared to them since their time gaps weren’t that far. “They had mistakes too during the race, but those were not enough to hold them off.”
Lampitoc says everybody contributed well in the team and did their part. “We prepared hard for this and we’re so thankful that our hard work had paid off well. What important now is we can write
something big in our resume when we apply for work.”
Although adviser Jaylord Jauod and logistic head Justin Villegas were not around during the interview because they attended some important matters, their teammates said they shared valuable contributions too during the race.
School pride
A few weeks after their arrival from Beijing, China, the Mapua students have proven that real school pride comes from academic achievements and not only from recreational or achievements in sports, which are very popular since then.
“It’s not only the sports that give pride and popularity to a school,” said the fifth year Naval. “We like to clarify that academic achievements remain the most important and higher accomplishment a student can bring to his own school.”
William Go, the Bosch Philippines country sales director, told STMs in a separate interview that he is “proud to be a Filipino” after the Filipino student delegates in China had received their awards in front of other countries.
“I was inspired, really. I’m already 36-year-old and I just now experienced this kind of moment,” said Go, who helped Bosch Philippines to organize the race here in the country last May. “This is the first time we support these students and the result is very unforgettable.”
Promoting the Bosch products is their main job as far as Go’s job is concerned, but he doesn’t expect to keep promoting the Mapua and the UP students and as well as the country after accomplishing something great in Beijing.
He also says that Bosch provides students the opportunity to learn and have the courage to excel in their professions. “How many kids in the country can build a car? Bosch is always here to support different advocacies just like that.”
“Innovation and skills transfer is an important part of the Bosch philosophy. The [cordless race] championship provides engineering students a challenge in creating race karts powered by Bosch tools and the Filipinos proved they can compete there,” said Go.
“I’m thankful to all the students who participated in the cordless race and we’ll guarantee everybody that we’ll sustain this program for the benefit of the students.”
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